


Bright Flashes

by keita52



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2018-09-15 19:39:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9252992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keita52/pseuds/keita52
Summary: Flash fic written for the Mass Effect Fanfiction Writers Group on Facebook and the Mass Effect Writers Circle on Tumblr.Chapter 1: Ashley x FemShep; Teen+ rating.Chapter 2: Vega x FemShep; Mature rating.Chapter 3: MShep + Garrus; Teen+ rating (for language)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Unedited flash fiction written in response to prompts and challenges through the Mass Effect Fanfiction Writers Group, on Facebook, and and the Mass Effect Writers Circle on Tumblr.
> 
> Stories are unconnected to anything else I've written, unless otherwise noted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sunday Sprint, 1/8/17 (paraphrased):  
> Write for 15 minutes straight using the starting sentence, "Don't make this any harder than it has to be!" You can play around with it and change it slightly to suit your needs. As soon as your 15 minutes is up, finish your current sentence and post!

Ashley gritted her teeth and adjusted her grip on the gun. "Don't make this any harder than it has to be!"

"Ash," Isha Shepard replied, hands starting to move to her sides. "It doesn't have to be hard at all."

"I trusted you, Shepard. I believed in you when no one else did. And now you show up here — on the heels of Cerberus forces — pointing a gun at the Council." Ash's arms were trembling, and it wasn't only from the effort of keeping the gun pointed at Shepard. "What am I supposed to think?"

"It isn't me that's working with Cerberus," Isha replied. "It's Udina."

"That's preposterous!" Udina cried from behind Ash. "Shepard is the one that has demonstrated ties with Cerberus. You can't _possibly_ think that _I_ made a deal with them."

"Ash." Isha slowly put her gun away.

"Shepard, are you sure—" Liara began.

"We can trust Ash, Liara," Isha said. "We know her, and she knows us."

"Of course. You're right." Liara lowered her gun, and out of the corner of her eye, Isha saw Vega doing the same.

"So it's up to you now, Ash," Isha said quietly. "We mean you no harm. You, Tevos, Sparatus, Valern. It's only Udina that needs to be taken in."

"This is absurd!" Udina cried. "Spectre Williams, please…"

"You know what?" Ash turned around in one swift movement, guns pointed at Udina. "The absurd thing is that I doubted Shepard, for even a second." Her arms were completely steady now, her face hard. "You're under arrest."

Udina's face went from pleading to determined in a second. He drew a pistol from underneath his shirt that Isha cursed herself for not having seen before — and her with her gun at her side, unable to —

Ash fired, a single shot echoing through the space, and Udina dropped to the ground with a perfectly round red mark in his forehead.

Isha breathed a sigh of relief, and stepped forward, moving towards Ash. Her heart seemed to be beating faster now than it had been during the whole confrontation. Her life had been in danger before; her heart was in danger now.

"Ash?" Isha asked, and there was a whole world in that one word, in Ash's name. A world that encompassed everything the two of them had been through together.

"Ish," Ash replied, pronouncing it _eye-sh_ , something that had almost been a joke between then in the early days. Ash and Ish. Cutesy. The kind of thing that kids might say to tease them. She stepped forward, holstering her gun, and drew Ish in for a passionate kiss.

Isha melted. Her world was safe. Finally.


	2. Awake/Asleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A Perfect 100, 1/19/17 (paraphrased):
> 
> Write exactly 100 words for the prompt: Awake/Asleep.

James Vega knew he was dreaming. Only in his dreams did Kirstine Shepard touch him so intimately, her hands lightly tracing down his chest. But _Dios_ , it felt real. He reveled in the sensations, drinking it in, letting it give him further fuel for his fantasies.

Then his dream went somewhere it had never gone before. Kirstine freed his erection and closed her mouth around it. James groaned, moving his hips upwards. " _Lola_ ," he said.

"It's okay to stay asleep," she whispered. "But you can wake up if you want."

James woke up, and saw that he hadn't been dreaming.


	3. Pickup Lines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ME Writers Circle, 10/28/17. Prompt incorporated as the first sentence.

"It must be hard with your sense of direction, never being able to find your way to a decent pickup line."

Hal Shepard turned his head to the side so he could cast a very, very intense glare at Garrus Vakarian. "You're supposed to be helping me," he accused the turian who he had _thought_ was his best friend.

"There's only so much I can do with what you're giving me, Shepard," Garrus said, trying and failing to hold back a grin. "Those are the oldest pickup lines in the book. No wonder you're 0-for-3 tonight."

"I'd like to see you do any better." Shepard took a swig of his drink and put it down. He frowned at the empty glass and raised a hand to beckon the bartender over for a refill.

"Uh uh. Tali would have my hide."

"She'd understand! It's not _real,_ " Shepard insisted. "It's just … proving…"

"That I'm the better shot at this too?"

" _Garrus_."

"All right, all right. I will _actually_ try to help you." Garrus scanned the area around them, checking out the Silver Coast Casino's patrons. "Uh… what _is_ your type, Shepard?"

"Tall, confident, could break me in half without a second thought."

"Well, that fits with your general death wish."

"I do _not_ have a death wish!"

Garrus gave him an understanding smile. "Right. Anyway, if you want a girl who could kick your ass, maybe you should pick a fight and see who joins in."

"That's a … er. Not the worst thing that you've ever said."

"Shepard, please do _not_ tell me you're about to start a bar fight."

Shepard rose from the bar and tossed another grin back at Garrus. "Okay. I won't tell you." He walked over to a krogan, tapped him on the shoulder, and said, "Are your balls as shrunken as your face?"

——

"And that," Urdnot Janak said, "is how I met your Papa."


End file.
